Establishing a power profile for generating electrical ratings

ABSTRACT

Establishing a power profile of power consuming components of computer system configurations for generating electrical ratings, beginning with a default, limited configuration of a computer system and continuing for a number of configurations of the computer system, each configuration including additional power consuming components not included in a previous configuration, where establishing a power profile includes: measuring, for a present configuration, power consumption of the computer system; calculating, in dependence upon the measured power consumption for the present configuration, an estimated power rating for the one or more additional power consuming components; and recording, in a power profile, estimated power ratings for the additional power consuming components, where the number of configurations of the computer system for which power consumption is measured is less than the number of possible configurations of the computer system.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation application of and claims priorityfrom U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/327,303, filed on Dec. 3, 2008.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The field of the invention is data processing, or, more specifically,methods, apparatus, and products for establishing a power profile ofpower consuming components of computer system configurations forgenerating electrical ratings.

2. Description Of Related Art

The development of the EDVAC computer system of 1948 is often cited asthe beginning of the computer era. Since that time, computer systemshave evolved into extremely complicated devices. Today's computers aremuch more sophisticated than early systems such as the EDVAC. Computersystems typically include a combination of hardware and softwarecomponents, application programs, operating systems, processors, buses,memory, input/output devices, and so on. As advances in semiconductorprocessing and computer architecture push the performance of thecomputer higher and higher, more sophisticated computer software hasevolved to take advantage of the higher performance of the hardware,resulting in computer systems today that are much more powerful thanjust a few years ago. Computer systems today are extremely configurablesuch that, when purchasing a computer system, a user may select amongmany components, those components to include in the user's computersystem. A user may specify, for example, the size, disk speed, andquantity of hard drives, the clock speed, number of cores, and quantityof computer processors, the clock speed, memory size, and quantity ofRandom Access Memory (RAM) modules, and so on. Each differentconfiguration of the computer system may consume a different amount ofpower during operation. In large data centers that include many hundredsor thousands of computer systems, servers, and other electricalequipment, power delivery through circuit breakers and similar powerdelivery equipment is provisioned to the computer systems in dependenceupon electrical ratings of the computer system that typically onlyspecify a permissible AC input voltage range and a maximum current drawfor a computer system, such as electrical ratings provided by UL(‘Underwriters Laboratories’). Electrical ratings are typically listedon a label affixed to the computer system and are derived from a highlyconservative estimate of the highest power consuming configuration ofthe computer system, sometimes even rounded up to the nearest Ampere orWatt. When computer systems are configured with fewer components or morepower efficient components, the electrical rating listed on the label ofthe computer system may be inaccurate, typically an overestimate ofmaximum possible current draw of the computer. Inaccurate electricalratings of computer systems may cause inefficient provisioning of powerdelivery—too few server enclosures per circuit breaker and the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Methods, apparatus, and products for establishing a power profile ofpower consuming components of computer system configurations forgenerating electrical ratings are disclosed that include: beginning witha default, limited configuration of a computer system and continuing fora number of configurations of the computer system, each configurationincluding additional power consuming components not included in aprevious configuration: measuring, by a system technician for a presentconfiguration, power consumption of the computer system; calculating, bya power profiling module in dependence upon the measured powerconsumption for the present configuration, an estimated power rating forthe one or more additional power consuming components not included inthe previous configuration; and recording, by the power profiling modulein a power profile, estimated power ratings for the one or moreadditional power consuming components not included in the previousconfiguration, where the number of configurations of the computer systemfor which power consumption is measured is less than the number ofpossible configurations of the computer system.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of theinvention will be apparent from the following more particulardescriptions of exemplary embodiments of the invention as illustrated inthe accompanying drawings wherein like reference numbers generallyrepresent like parts of exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 sets forth a network diagram of an exemplary system forestablishing a power profile of power consuming components of computersystem configurations for generating electrical ratings according toembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 sets forth a functional block diagram of an exemplary system forestablishing a power profile of power consuming components of computersystem configurations for generating electrical ratings according toembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 sets forth a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method forestablishing a power profile of power consuming components of computersystem configurations for generating electrical ratings according toembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 sets forth a flow chart illustrating a further exemplary methodfor establishing a power profile of power consuming components ofcomputer system configurations for generating electrical ratingsaccording to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 sets forth a flow chart illustrating a further exemplary methodfor establishing a power profile of power consuming components ofcomputer system configurations for generating electrical ratingsaccording to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6 sets forth a flow chart illustrating a further exemplary methodfor establishing a power profile of power consuming components ofcomputer system configurations for generating electrical ratingsaccording to embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary methods, apparatus, and products for establishing a powerprofile of power consuming components of computer system configurationsfor generating electrical ratings in accordance with the presentinvention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings,beginning with FIG. 1. FIG. 1 sets forth a network diagram of anexemplary system for establishing a power profile of power consumingcomponents of computer system configurations for generating electricalratings according to embodiments of the present invention. The system ofFIG. 1 includes two computers (152,153) each of which in turn includesat least one computer processor (156) or ‘CPU’ as well as random accessmemory (168) (‘RAM’) which is connected through a high speed memory bus(166) and bus adapter (158) to processor (156) and to other componentsof the computer (152, 153). The computers of FIG. 1 are connected to onanother for data communications through a wide area network (‘WAN’)(100).

Stored in RAM (168) of the computer (152) is a power profiling module(126), a module of computer program instructions that operates generallyfor establishing a power profile of power consuming components ofcomputer system configurations for generating electrical ratingsaccording to embodiments of the present invention. A power consumingcomponent is a component of a computer system that consumes anappreciable amount of power during operation of the computer system.Examples of power consuming components include hard drives, memorymodules, processors, input/output (‘I/O’) adapters, bus adapters,optical drives, and so on as will occur to readers of skill in the art.A power profile (110) as the term is used in this specification is anydata structure or collection of data structures that includesinformation specifying estimated power ratings for power consumingcomponents of computer systems. Examples of data structures that mayform a power profile (110) include tables, lists, linked lists,databases, spreadsheets, and so on as will occur to readers of skill inthe art.

The system technician (101) and the power profiling module (126) of FIG.1 may establish a power profile of power consuming components ofcomputer system configurations for generating electrical ratingsaccording to embodiments of the present invention by: beginning with adefault, limited configuration of a computer system and continuing for anumber of configurations of the computer system, each configurationincluding additional power consuming components not included in aprevious configuration: measuring, by a system technician (101) for apresent configuration, power consumption of the computer system;calculating, by the power profiling module (126) in dependence upon themeasured power consumption for the present configuration, an estimatedpower rating (114) for the one or more additional power consumingcomponents not included in the previous configuration; and recording(306), by the power profiling module (126) in a power profile (110),estimated power ratings (114) for the one or more additional powerconsuming components not included in the previous configuration.

A system technician (101) is a human user that measures powerconsumption of computer systems. In the example of FIG. 1, the systemtechnician (101) measures power consumption of servers, one example typeof computer system, for a number of a server configurations (103). A‘configuration’ of a computer system is a specification of one or morepower consuming components to be installed in a computer system.Consider the server configuration (103) as an example of computer systemconfigurations. Each server configuration may be specified as a default,or ‘base,’ model with the addition of one or more components such ashard drives, memory modules, optical drives, bus adapters, and so on.

The example system technician (101) of FIG. 1 first measures the powerconsumption of a default, limited server configuration and thencontinues with other server configurations, where each subsequent serverconfiguration includes additional components. That is, each subsequentconfiguration includes at least one component not included in a previousconfiguration. Readers of skill in the art will recognize, however, thata subsequent configuration need not have a greater number of componentsthan a previous configuration to include an additional component.‘Additional’ components as the term is used in this specification mayrefer to components, having the same type but with characteristics, suchas capacity, operating speed, memory size, and so on. Each subsequentconfiguration may actually include the same number of components, whereone component is effectively replaced by another component, of the sametype, with differing operating characteristics. For example, consider abase configuration of a server having a 250 Gigabyte (‘GB’) hard drive,and a subsequent configuration, without the 250 GB hard drive, buthaving as its one and only ‘additional component,’ a 500 GB hard driveinstead. Consider as other examples of ‘additional components’ thefollowing order of configurations for which the system technicianmeasures power consumption of the computer system: a first, defaultconfiguration including only a slow, single-core CPU, on-board ROM witha lightweight operating system, and no other components—no RAM, no harddrive, no I/O adapters, no optical drives—a second configuration similarto the first, but with a hard drive; a third configuration including ahard drive and a single dual in-line memory module (‘DIMM’); a fourthconfiguration including a hard drive, single DIMM, and optical drive,and so on. In the example of FIG. 1, the number of configurations of thecomputer system for which power consumption is measured by the systemtechnician is less than the number of possible configurations of thecomputer system. That is, a computer system may be configured with analmost infinite number of combinations of components due to manyvariables in the combination such as, for example, variable componentswithin the computer system, variable numbers of the same component,variable types or brands of the same component, variable sizes or speedsof the same component, and so on. As such, measuring power consumptionof each possible configuration may be prohibitively time consuming,expensive, and inefficient.

An estimated power rating (114) for the one or more additional powerconsuming components not included in the previous configuration is avalue representing an estimation of typical power consumption by theadditional power consuming component. An estimated power rating for a 1Gigabyte (‘GB’) DIMM, for example, may be 10 Watts. The term ‘estimated’is used here to describe the power rating because, as mentioned above,power consumption of the computer system is not measured for everypossible configuration of the computer system and in some embodimentsthe actual power consumption of a power consuming component may varyfrom the estimated power rating for various reasons. One example reasonwhich actual power consumption of a power consuming component may varyfrom estimated power ratings is that components from differentmanufacturers may consume different amount of power during operation.Consider as an example, a 1 GB DIMM manufactured by a first manufacturerand a 1 GB DIMM manufactured by a second manufacturer, where the DIMMmanufactured by the first manufacturer generally consumes 25 Watts andthe DIMM manufactured by the second manufacturer generally consumes 12Watts. As power consumption for only one or two 1 GB DIMMs of differentmanufacturers is actually measured in generating the power profile,power consumption of 1 GB DIMMs from other manufacturers may not exactlymatch the estimated power rating for the 1 GB DIMM in the power profile(110).

Another example reason which actual power consumption of a powerconsuming component may vary from estimated power ratings is thatmultiple components of the same type in a computer system mayindividually consume a different amount of power consumption than onecomponent in a computer system. Consider as an example, a computersystem having four, 1 GB DIMMS. The fourth DIMM in such a computersystem may consume less power than any other DIMM because it is accessedless often than the first three DIMMs.

Another reason which actual power consumption of a power consumingcomponent may vary from estimated power ratings is that in someconfigurations of a computer system, one component may consume lesspower than it would otherwise consume due to the operation of another,different component in the computer system. Consider as an example, acomputer system having 4 GB of RAM and a hard drive. The hard drive mayconsume less power than it would with only 1 GB of RAM in the computersystem because the operating system pages out to the hard drive lesswith 4 GB of RAM than with 1 GB of RAM, meaning the hard drive operatesless with 4 GB than with 1 GB of RAM.

Stored in RAM (168) of the computer (153) is a system configuration tool(126), a module of computer program instructions that operates generallyfor establishing a power profile of power consuming components ofcomputer system configurations for generating electrical ratingsaccording to embodiments of the present invention by generatingelectrical ratings (122) for one or more computer systems in dependenceupon the power profile (110). An electrical rating (122) for a computersystem is a specification of one or more power consumptioncharacteristics of the computer system including, for example, anmaximum Alternating Current (‘AC’) current draw for the computer systemas presently configured, also referred to her as an ‘as-configured’electrical rating. An as-configured electrical rating differs fromelectrical ratings of the prior art, which typically only specify apermissible AC input voltage range and a maximum current draw for acomputer system, where the maximum current draw is derived from the mostpower consuming configuration possible and typically rounded up to thenearest Ampere. A prior art electrical rating for a computer system of aless power consuming configuration, therefore, may specify a maximumcurrent draw much greater than any current draw possible by thatcomputer system. Such electrical ratings in data centers are typicallyused to provision power, through circuit breakers and the like, withinthe data center, for a particular set of server enclosures, or for oneserver enclosure. Using the prior art electrical ratings to provisionpower among servers in data center may result in ‘over-provisioning’ ofpower, limiting the number of servers, enclosures, and other equipmentwhich may be connected to a particular set of circuit breakers.

The system configuration tool (116) may generate electrical ratings byreceiving, from a user (102), system configuration parameters (118)defining a configuration of a computer system. A ‘user’ that providessystem configuration parameters to the system configuration tool (116)may be a customer, or purchaser, of a computer system, here a server(103), or may be a distributor or vendor of a computer system thatconfigures the computer system prior to shipping the system to acustomer. The system configuration parameters (118), in the example ofFIG. 1, are values stored in a data structure that specify one or morepower consuming components (120) of the computer system. The values mayspecify a component type, a memory size of a component, a clock speed ofthe component, a bus speed of the component, a quantity of the componentin the computer system, and so on as will occur to readers of skill inthe art. The system configuration tool (116) may also sum, in dependenceupon the power profile (110) of power consuming components, estimatedpower ratings (114) of the power consuming components of the computersystem configured in accordance with the system configuration parameters(118). The system configuration tool (116) may then provide, to the user(102), as the electrical rating (122) for the computer system configuredin accordance with the system configuration parameters (118), the sum(124) of estimated power ratings of the power consuming components.

As shown here the system configuration tool (116) is an applicationprogram operating on a user's (102) computer (153), separate anddistinct from the computer (152) on which the power profile module (126)executes. Readers of skill in the art will recognize that suchseparation of the system configuration tool (116) and power profilingmodule (126) is for explanation only, not limitation. In fact, thesystem configuration tool (116) may implemented as a web service, a Javaservlet, or the like, served to Internet users, such as the user (102)of FIG. 1, by the same computer (152) executing the power profilingmodule (126). The system configuration tool (116) may also beimplemented as web service, Java servlet, or the like, provided toInternet users, on a standalone web server, a computer other than theInternet the user's (102) computer (153) or the computer (152) on whichthe power profiling module (126) is executing. When hosted on a computerother than the user's (102) computer (153), the system configurationtool (116) may be a software component of a computer system salesapplication, a blade server sales application, for example, that acceptsuser specifications of computer systems, and generates a sales order tobe filled by a vendor, distributor, manufacturer, or the like.

Also stored in RAM (168) of each computer (152, 153) is an operatingsystem (154). Operating systems useful for establishing a power profileof power consuming components of computer system configurations forgenerating electrical ratings according to embodiments of the presentinvention include UNIX™, Linux™, Microsoft XP™, AIX™, IBM's i5/OS™, andothers as will occur to those of skill in the art. The operating system(154), power profiling module (126), system configuration tool (126),measurement table (104), power profile (110), system configurationparameters (118), and electrical rating (122) in the example of FIG. 1are shown in RAM (168), but many components of such software typicallyare stored in non-volatile memory also, such as, for example, on a diskdrive (170).

Each computer (152, 153) of FIG. 1 includes a disk drive adapter (172)coupled through expansion bus (160) and bus adapter (158) to processor(156) and other components of the computer (152, 153). Disk driveadapter (172) connects non-volatile data storage to the computer (152,153) in the form of disk drive (170). Disk drive adapters useful incomputers establishing a power profile of power consuming components ofcomputer system configurations for generating electrical ratingsaccording to embodiments of the present invention include IntegratedDrive Electronics (‘IDE’) adapters, Small Computer System Interface(‘SCSI’) adapters, and others as will occur to those of skill in theart. Non-volatile computer memory also may be implemented for as anoptical disk drive, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory(so-called ‘EEPROM’ or ‘Flash’ memory), RAM drives, and so on, as willoccur to those of skill in the art.

Each example computers (152, 153) of FIG. 1 includes one or moreinput/output (‘I/O’) adapters (178). I/O adapters implementuser-oriented input/output through, for example, software drivers andcomputer hardware for controlling output to display devices such ascomputer display screens, as well as user input from user input devices(181) such as keyboards and mice. Each example computer (152, 153) ofFIG. 1 includes a video adapter (209), which is an example of an I/Oadapter specially designed for graphic output to a display device (180)such as a display screen or computer monitor. Video adapter (209) isconnected to processor (156) through a high speed video bus (164), busadapter (158), and the front side bus (162), which is also a high speedbus.

Each exemplary computer (152, 153) of FIG. 1 includes a communicationsadapter (167) for data communications with other computers (152, 153)and for data communications with a data communications network (100).Such data communications may be carried out serially through RS-232connections, through external buses such as a Universal Serial Bus(‘USB’), through data communications data communications networks suchas IP data communications networks, and in other ways as will occur tothose of skill in the art. Communications adapters implement thehardware level of data communications through which one computer sendsdata communications to another computer, directly or through a datacommunications network. Examples of communications adapters useful forweb search among rich media objects according to embodiments of thepresent invention include modems for wired dial-up communications,Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) adapters for wired data communications networkcommunications, and 802.11 adapters for wireless data communicationsnetwork communications.

The arrangement of computers (152, 153), system technicians (101),server configurations (103), users (102), networks (100), and otherdevices making up the exemplary system illustrated in FIG. 1 are forexplanation, not for limitation. Data processing systems usefulaccording to various embodiments of the present invention may includeadditional servers, routers, other devices, and peer-to-peerarchitectures, not shown in FIG. 1, as will occur to those of skill inthe art. Networks in such data processing systems may support many datacommunications protocols, including for example TCP (TransmissionControl Protocol), IP (Internet Protocol), HTTP (HyperText TransferProtocol), WAP (Wireless Access Protocol), HDTP (Handheld DeviceTransport Protocol), and others as will occur to those of skill in theart. Various embodiments of the present invention may be implemented ona variety of hardware platforms in addition to those illustrated in FIG.1.

For further explanation, FIG. 2 sets forth a functional block diagram ofan exemplary system for establishing a power profile of power consumingcomponents of computer system configurations for generating electricalratings according to embodiments of the present invention. The examplesystem of FIG. 1 includes a system technician (101) that, beginning witha default, limited configuration (103) of a computer system andcontinuing for a number of configurations of the computer system witheach configuration including additional power consuming components notincluded in a previous configuration: measures, for a presentconfiguration, power consumption (202) of the computer system. Asmentioned above, the number of configurations of the computer system forwhich power consumption is measured by the system technician (101) isless than the number of possible configurations of the computer system.

The example system of FIG. 2 also includes a power profiling module(110) that calculates, in dependence upon the measured power consumption(202) for the present configuration, an estimated power rating (114) forthe one or more additional power consuming components not included inthe previous configuration and records, in a power profile (110),estimated power ratings (114) for the one or more additional powerconsuming components not included in the previous configuration. In theexample of FIG. 2 the power profile (110) is implemented as a tablehaving three columns, one specifying a component type such as a harddisk drive (‘HDD’), CPU, or DIMM, one column specifying an average powerconsumption of the component when the computer system is idle, and onecolumn specifying an average power consumption of the component when thecomputer system is operating under a maximum load. That is, the systemtechnician, in measuring power consumption of the computer system in itspresent configuration may measure power consumption twice, once when thecomputer system is idle and once when the computer system is operatingunder a maximum load. The computer system may be considered idle afterloading the operating system but before loading user-level applications.The computer system may be operating under a maximum load when thesystem technician (101) starts an application program on the computersystem where the application program includes computer programinstructions which cause the computer to operate under the maximum load.

The example system of FIG. 2 also includes a system configuration tool(116) that provides to a user (102), a graphical user interface (‘GUI’)(204) through which the system configuration tool (116) receives systemconfiguration parameters (118) defining a configuration of a computersystem. The example system configuration parameters (118) of FIG. 2specify one or more power consuming components of the computer system bycomponent type and quantity.

The example system configuration tool (116) of FIG. 2 also sums, independence upon the power profile (110) of power consuming components,estimated power ratings (114) of the power consuming components of thecomputer system configured in accordance with the system configurationparameters and provides, to the user (102) as the electrical rating(122) user-configured computer system, the sum (124) of estimated powerratings of the power consuming components. For the example systemconfiguration parameters (118) of FIG. 2 that specify for a computersystem a particular chassis type, two 500 GB hard drives, six 2 GB, 1gigahertz (‘GHz’) DIMMs, and two, 3.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs, theelectrical rating for the user-configured computer system may include asa maximum power rating, 162.4 Watts, and as a minimum power rating, 81.4Watts.

For further explanation, FIG. 3 sets forth a flow chart illustrating anexemplary method for establishing a power profile of power consumingcomponents of computer system configurations for generating electricalratings according to embodiments of the present invention. The portionof the method of FIG. 3 carried out by the system technician (101) andthe power profiling module (126) begins with a default, limitedconfiguration of a computer system and continues for a number ofconfigurations of a computer system, where each configuration includesadditional power consuming components not included in a previousconfiguration. In the method of FIG. 3, the number of configurations ofthe computer system for which power consumption is measured is less thanthe number of possible configurations of the computer system.

The method of FIG. 3 includes measuring (302), by a system technician(101) for a present configuration, power consumption (202) of thecomputer system. Measuring (302), by a system technician (101) for apresent configuration, power consumption (202) of the computer systemmay include calculating, with a current sensing circuit, currentdelivered by a power supply to the computer system during operation andproviding the calculated current to the power profiling module (126) byrecording the calculated current in a table of spreadsheet, in a recordof a database, or in other ways as will occur to readers of skill in theart.

The method of FIG. 3 also includes calculating (304), by a powerprofiling module (126) in dependence upon the measured power consumption(202) for the present configuration, an estimated power rating (114) forthe one or more additional power consuming components not included inthe previous configuration. Calculating (304) an estimated power rating(114) for the additional components of the present configuration may becarried out by calculating the difference of the measured powerconsumption (202) of the present configuration of the computer systemand the measured power consumption of the previous configuration of thecomputer system. Readers of skill in the art will recognize, that thedifference in measured power consumption between the present andprevious configuration represents the power consumption of the one ormore additional components included in the present configuration but notincluded in the previous configuration.

The method of FIG. 3 also includes recording (306), by the powerprofiling module (126) in a power profile (110), estimated power ratings(114) for the one or more additional power consuming components notincluded in the previous configuration. Recording (306), by the powerprofiling module (126) in a power profile (110), estimated power ratings(114) may be carried out by storing, in a data structure, such as atable, for example, an association of a component type (112) of theadditional component, and the calculated, estimated power rating (114)for the additional component. As mentioned above the power profile (110)may be implemented as any type of data structure such as a table,database, spreadsheet, list, and so on. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, for example, the power profiling module (126) and powerprofile (110) are software components and data structures of aspreadsheet application. Such a spreadsheet application may beconfigured to store in measurement fields of a spreadsheet datastructure, power consumption measurements (202) of a presentconfiguration entered into by the system technician (101). Other fieldsof the spreadsheet data structure may be configured to store the resultof functions performed with the values stored in such measurementfields, where the functions calculate the difference between the powerconsumption measurements of various configurations of the computersystem, the present configuration and a previous configuration. In sucha spreadsheet-based embodiment, calculating and recording the estimatedpower rating may be carried out, responsive to the system technicianentering the power measurements of a present configuration in ameasurement field, by calculating the difference between the powerconsumption measurements of the present configuration and those of aprevious configuration and storing the results in a field of thespreadsheet. In other alternative embodiments, the profiling module maybe implemented as a software component that presents a GUI to a systemtechnician, receives measured power consumption (202) data from thesystem technician, calculates the estimated power ratings from the powerconsumption measurements of present and previous configurations, andstores the calculated estimated power ratings in a separate datastructure, the power profile, such as a table, list, and so on.

The method of FIG. 3 also includes generating (308), by a systemconfiguration tool (116), electrical ratings (122) for one or morecomputer systems. In the method of FIG. 3 generating (308), by a systemconfiguration tool (116), electrical ratings (122) for one or morecomputer systems includes: receiving (310), from a user (316), systemconfiguration parameters (118) defining a configuration of a computersystem where the system configuration parameters specify one or morepower consuming components of the computer system; summing (312), independence upon the power profile (110) of power consuming components,estimated power ratings (114) of the power consuming components of thecomputer system configured in accordance with the system configurationparameters; and providing (314), to the user (316) as the electricalrating (122) for the computer system configured in accordance with thesystem configuration parameters, the sum (124) of estimated powerratings of the power consuming components.

The example system configuration tool (116) of FIG. 3 may receive (310),from a user (316), system configuration parameters (118) by receivinguser input through a graphical user interface (‘GUI’) presented by thesystem configuration tool (116) to the user (316). The example systemconfiguration tool (116) of FIG. 3 may sum (312) estimated power ratings(114) of the power consuming components of the computer systemconfigured in accordance with the system configuration parameters byidentifying from the system configuration parameters (118) a quantity ofeach power consuming component, calculating for each type of powerconsuming component the total estimated power rating for all powerconsuming components the same type, and summing all of the totalestimated power ratings. The example system configuration tool (116) ofFIG. 3 may providing (314), to the user (316) as the electrical rating(122) for the computer system configured in accordance with the systemconfiguration parameters, the sum (124) of estimated power ratings ofthe power consuming components in various ways including for example, asa value through a GUI, printing an adhesive label for adhering to thecomputer system, and so on as may occur to readers of skill in the art.

For further explanation, FIG. 4 sets forth a flow chart illustrating afurther exemplary method for establishing a power profile of powerconsuming components of computer system configurations for generatingelectrical ratings according to embodiments of the present invention.The portion of the method of FIG. 4 carried out by the system technician(101) and the power profiling module, like the method of FIG. 3, beginswith a default, limited configuration of a computer system and continuesfor a number of configurations of a computer system, where eachconfiguration includes additional power consuming components notincluded in a previous configuration. Also like the method of FIG. 3,the number of configurations of the computer system for which powerconsumption is measured in the example of FIG. 4 is less than the numberof possible configurations of the computer system.

The method of FIG. 4 is also similar to the method of FIG. 3 in that themethod of Figure includes: measuring (302), for a present configuration,power consumption (202) of the computer system; calculating (304) anestimated power rating (114) for the additional power consumingcomponents; recording (306) the estimated power ratings (114); andgenerating (308) electrical ratings (122) for one or more computersystems, including: receiving (310) system configuration parameters(118) defining a configuration of a computer system, summing (312)estimated power ratings (114) of the power consuming components of thecomputer system, and providing (314), as the electrical rating (122) forthe computer system, the sum (124).

The method of FIG. 4 differs from the method of FIG. 3, however, in thatin the method of FIG. 4 receiving (310), from a user (316), systemconfiguration parameters (118) defining a configuration of a computersystem may be carried out in various ways. One way in which the systemconfiguration tool (116) may receive the system configuration parameters(116) includes receiving (404) the system configuration parameters (118)in a configuration file (404). A configuration file (404) includes atleast one, and possibly many more, configuration definitions. That is,one configuration file may specify many different configurations ofcomputer systems. Another way in which the system configuration tool(116) may receive the system configuration parameters (116) includesreceiving (406) the system configuration parameters (118) through agraphical user interface (‘GUI’) (408) provided to the user by thesystem configuration tool (116).

For further explanation, FIG. 5 sets forth a flow chart illustrating afurther exemplary method for establishing a power profile of powerconsuming components of computer system configurations for generatingelectrical ratings according to embodiments of the present invention.The portion of the method of FIG. 5 carried out by the system technician(101) and the power profiling module (126), like the method of FIG. 3,begins with a default, limited configuration of a computer system andcontinues for a number of configurations of a computer system, whereeach configuration includes additional power consuming components notincluded in a previous configuration. Also like the method of FIG. 3,the number of configurations of the computer system for which powerconsumption is measured in the example of FIG. 5 is less than the numberof possible configurations of the computer system.

The method of FIG. 5 is also similar to the method of FIG. 3 in that themethod of Figure includes: measuring (302), for a present configuration,power consumption (202) of the computer system; calculating (304) anestimated power rating (114) for the additional power consumingcomponents; and recording (306) the estimated power ratings (114). Themethod of FIG. 5 differs from the method of FIG. 3, however, in that inthe method of FIG. 5, measuring (302), by a system technician (101) fora present configuration, power consumption (202) of the computer systemincludes measuring (502) the power consumption (506) when the computersystem is idle and measuring (504) the power consumption (508) when thecomputer system is executing a maximum load.

For further explanation, FIG. 6 sets forth a flow chart illustrating afurther exemplary method for establishing a power profile of powerconsuming components of computer system configurations for generatingelectrical ratings according to embodiments of the present invention.The portion of the method of FIG. 6 carried out by the system technician(101) and the power profiling module (126), like the method of FIG. 3,begins with a default, limited configuration of a computer system andcontinues for a number of configurations of a computer system, whereeach configuration includes additional power consuming components notincluded in a previous configuration. Also like the method of FIG. 3,the number of configurations of the computer system for which powerconsumption is measured in the example of FIG. 6 is less than the numberof possible configurations of the computer system.

The method of FIG. 6 differs from the method of FIG. 3, however, in thatthe method of FIG. 6 includes measuring (602), by the system technician(101) for a number of predefined configurations of the computer system,power consumption of the computer system with each predefinedconfiguration including one or more power consuming components. Apredefined configuration is a configuration of a computer system definedby a system technician (101) which is used to determine the accuracy ofpreviously calculated estimated power ratings for components.

The method of FIG. 6 also includes summing (604), by the power profilingmodule (126) for each of the predefined configurations, estimated powerratings (114) of the power consuming components of the predefinedconfiguration, and comparing (608), by the power profiling module (126),each sum (606) of estimated power ratings to the measured powerconsumptions (610) of the predefined configurations. That is, in themethod of FIG. 6, the power profiling module sums the previouslycalculated and stored estimated power ratings of components of thepredefined configuration. Then the power profiling module compares thesum to the measured power consumption to determine the accuracy of theestimated power ratings (114). If the comparison indicates a highlyinaccurate power rating, the system technician (101) may then modify theestimated power ratings (114) within the profile, by measuring again,power consumption of configurations for which power consumption waspreviously measured, by measuring power consumption of newconfigurations for which power consumption was not previously measured,and in other ways as will occur to readers of skill in the art.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described largely inthe context of a fully functional computer system for establishing apower profile of power consuming components of computer systemconfigurations for generating electrical ratings. Readers of skill inthe art will recognize, however, that the present invention also may beembodied in a computer program product disposed on signal bearing mediafor use with any suitable data processing system. Such signal bearingmedia may be transmission media or recordable media for machine-readableinformation, including magnetic media, optical media, or other suitablemedia. Examples of recordable media include magnetic disks in harddrives or diskettes, compact disks for optical drives, magnetic tape,and others as will occur to those of skill in the art. Examples oftransmission media include telephone networks for voice communicationsand digital data communications networks such as, for example,Ethernets™ and networks that communicate with the Internet Protocol andthe World Wide Web as well as wireless transmission media such as, forexample, networks implemented according to the IEEE 802.11 family ofspecifications. Persons skilled in the art will immediately recognizethat any computer system having suitable programming means will becapable of executing the steps of the method of the invention asembodied in a program product. Persons skilled in the art will recognizeimmediately that, although some of the exemplary embodiments describedin this specification are oriented to software installed and executingon computer hardware, nevertheless, alternative embodiments implementedas firmware or as hardware are well within the scope of the presentinvention.

It will be understood from the foregoing description that modificationsand changes may be made in various embodiments of the present inventionwithout departing from its true spirit. The descriptions in thisspecification are for purposes of illustration only and are not to beconstrued in a limiting sense. The scope of the present invention islimited only by the language of the following claims.

1. A method of establishing a power profile of power consumingcomponents of computer system configurations for generating electricalratings, the method comprising: beginning with a default, limitedconfiguration of a computer system and continuing for a plurality ofconfigurations of the computer system, each configuration includingadditional power consuming components not included in a previousconfiguration: measuring, by a power profiling module for a presentconfiguration, power consumption of the computer system; calculating, bythe power profiling module in dependence upon the measured powerconsumption for the present configuration, an estimated power rating forthe one or more additional power consuming components not included inthe previous configuration; and recording, by the power profiling modulein a power profile, estimated power ratings for the one or moreadditional power consuming components not included in the previousconfiguration, wherein the number of configurations of the computersystem for which power consumption is measured is less than the numberof possible configurations of the computer system and wherein the powerprofiling module comprising one or more module of automated computingmachinery.
 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating, by asystem configuration tool in dependence upon the power profile,electrical ratings for one or more computer systems, including:receiving, from a user, system configuration parameters defining aconfiguration of a computer system, the system configuration parametersspecifying one or more power consuming components of the computersystem; summing, in dependence upon the power profile of power consumingcomponents, estimated power ratings of the power consuming components ofthe computer system configured in accordance with the systemconfiguration parameters; and providing, to the user as the electricalrating for the computer system configured in accordance with the systemconfiguration parameters, the sum of estimated power ratings of thepower consuming components.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein receivingsystem configuration parameters defining a configuration of a computersystem further comprises: receiving the system configuration parametersthrough a graphical user interface (‘GUI’) provided to the user by thesystem configuration tool.
 4. The method of claim 2 wherein receivingsystem configuration parameters defining a configuration of a computersystem further comprises: receiving the system configuration parametersin a configuration file.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein measuringpower consumption of the computer system for a present configurationfurther comprises: measuring the power consumption when the computersystem is idle.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein measuring powerconsumption of the computer system for the present configuration furthercomprises: measuring the power consumption when the computer system isexecuting a maximum load.
 7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:measuring, by the power profiling module for a number of predefinedconfigurations of the computer system, power consumption of the computersystem, each predefined configuration comprising one or more powerconsuming components; summing, by the power profiling module for each ofthe predefined configurations, estimated power ratings of the powerconsuming components of the predefined configuration; and comparing, bythe power profiling module, each sum of estimated power ratings to themeasured power consumptions of the predefined configurations. 8-20.(canceled)